The Designed Rush column covers all NFL action through Sunday each week. Of course, with the exception of Week 17 and the postseason, there’s this pesky thing called Monday Night Football. Which means there are possibly significant developments and story lines left uncovered. Solution: The Designed Rush Redux, which will gather up the most interesting tidbits from Monday’s action, as well as the continued fallout from Sunday.
The Designed Rush Redux: Even After Their Big Win, Patriots Still Need To Shore Up Defense
The New England Patriots won big with splash plays from the defense and special teams, but those aren’t necessarily things an NFL team can expect to happen on a week-to-week basis. Their defense still showed signs of vulnerability in Miami.
Disconnected Thoughts From The Patriots' Special Teams Fiesta:
- Scrappiness jokes aside, you have to wonder why the Jets decided to cut Danny Woodhead. The team was impressed enough with him that he survived the final roster cuts. With LaDainian Tomlinson playing as well as he had behind the Jets superior offensive line, New York probably doesn't miss Woodhead much. But in letting him go, it looks like the Pats have a weapon out of the backfield to help account for the loss of Kevin Faulk.
- Lost in the ensuing special teams implosion was the standout game that Davone Bess was having for the Dolphins. On Miami's first scoring drive, he returned a punt 13 yards, then added 40 more on two receptions, capped by a 19-yard touchdown on a catch-and-run. That's one of the added benefits for adding a premier receiver like Brandon Marshall: It opens things up for good secondary receivers like Bess. His 15 receptions the last two weeks suggests that if Miami's pass offense can ever stop killing itself, he's figure heavily in an improved attack.
- Because it's possible to find fault even with 27-point victories on the road: The Patriots still have to be concerned over the play of the defense. That's may sound an odd statement on an evening during which they got four interceptions, but many of those were poor reads by either Chad Henne of Tyler Thigpen. Until they found themselves in a huge hole in the second half, Miami was moving the ball with relative ease on the Patriots. It was a rousing victory and an important one for the Pats, but unless they can gameplan on getting multiple special teams or defensive scores in each game, giving up 400 yards of offense is going to be a problem.
- If you watched 30 seconds of Monday night's game, you know Tom Brady was trying to become the fastest quarterback ever to reach 100 victories. And he did, so good on him. But the ESPN star slobbing was on overdrive after that game. I should know better than to lend credence to anything Matt Millen says, but how exactly does Brady's performance in this game -- which was solid but not exemplary in any way -- prove that he has returned to the dominating 2007 form?
- Asked to describe his breakout performance, safety Patrick Chung invoked that cinematic tour de force Bad Boys II to yell “Woo-sa!” You know, I never even saw Bad Boys II, and I’ve been under the impression that there was some sort of Internet mandate that stated you weren’t allowed to quote anything but this:
NFL Player Tweet Of The Night
That punt block was the same scheme Jets used last week to block a punt vs Miami but to the other side of the protection.
Jay Feely
jayfeely
All right, so maybe it wasn’t Patrick Chung being an unstoppable force of nature so much as it is an obvious and exploitable flaw in the Dolphins blocking scheme. Then again, Chung admitted that after the game to reporters, saying it happened “exactly how coach drew it up on the board.” Well of course. It’s not as though such things occur haphazardly and no matter how great the strategy, Chung isn’t blocking two kicks without a superb effort. Miami, meanwhile, has a fix to make and quickly, as teams won’t stop attacking it until they do.
A Delicious Bundle Of Gripes
- Speaking of Brady fluffing, nothing gets analysts more moist than seeing Tom Terrific act all fired up and headbutt some teammates. OH MY GOD WHAT INTENSITY IN A GAME WHERE HE HAD TO DO VERY LITTLE!
- According to National Football Post sources, the Redskins are trying to shop Devin Thomas for a trade. Lucky for them that the Vikings have a clear need for music video extras.
- We should just let this dog onto any NFL field it wants to add much-needed levity to the tackle scrum. You wanna tell me that wouldn’t quadruple ratings?
- I wonder what percentage of Chuck Cecil’s salary that $40,000 fine wipes out? Has to be a hefty share. I may not have the prestige of any fancy NFL coordinator, but I am allowed to swear like a sailor. Shit bitch cockwaffle. I say, who really did win at life? [Dances in shower of arcade tokens]
See More:
